


Two Fathers

by scullywolf



Series: TXF: Scenes in Between [129]
Category: The X-Files
Genre: Banter, F/M, Gen, MSR, Missing Scene, The Lone Gunmen - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-18
Updated: 2016-04-18
Packaged: 2018-06-03 02:08:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6592366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scullywolf/pseuds/scullywolf





	Two Fathers

_“The project is still going on.”  
“Yeah.”_

It’s a relief to see the spark back in his eyes, to see him shed the shroud of apathy that’s hung about him since she was released from the hospital in New York. It’s been all too reminiscent of the last time they lost the X-Files, when they were separated and he slipped into a quagmire of depression and paranoia. _This_ is how she likes to see him, focused and intent.

If her gaze drifts a little from his eyes to his mouth, well, she is only human. (And almost a foot shorter than him. Yes, that’s definitely the reason.)

“Wait, how did you get all this? They have our badges.”

She’s been wondering when he would ask about that. “Some of it was public record, believe it or not. As for the rest, well…” She clears her throat. “Our contacts at the State Department and Metro PD don’t yet know we’re on administrative leave.”

His eyes widen. “Scully, when they find out--”

“They’ll already have their files back. I’m only borrowing them to show you, and I’m meeting with Cheryl Martin from State in--” She glances at her watch. “--about half an hour to return everything. It’s all been kept off the record. The information I got from the police department and the hospital, about Openshaw’s death, was all verbal.”

There was a time, not even that long ago, when she would never have considered breaking the rules like this, jeopardizing other people’s jobs in the pursuit of mere information. But things have changed. There is more at stake here than employment.

It should probably make her sad that she’s become so disillusioned, that she’s finding more ethical gray areas than she ever used to believe existed.

“Anyway, I thought you needed to see all this,” she says, nodding toward the box. “And now that we have names and dates, I thought we could go pay a visit to the Gunmen and see what else they’re able to dig up.”

He nods, the muscle in his jaw bulging momentarily. “We need to try and get specifics on the project. Find out what exactly they’ve done to Cassandra, to the other abduction victims.” He hands her back the file folders. “Give me a few minutes to get changed, and then we can go.”

***

Mulder stays in the car while she returns the box of files to their State Department contact. Scully feels a twinge of guilt as Cheryl offers a characteristically warm smile and asks if there’s anything else she can do to help; it passes quickly, and she should probably feel worse about _that_ than she does. 

It’s a quiet ride to Takoma Park, neither of them saying much, neither needing to. For all his tendency toward rambling, Mulder almost always needs time to work through the big things internally, first. Scully knows better than to disrupt his process, just as she knows he won’t be bothered by, won’t even hear, the classical music she turns on low for the drive.

Byers answers their knock with a smile. 

“Is that Mulder?” Langly calls from somewhere behind him. “Dude, if you're here for D&D, you're a day late.”

“How's it going, fellas? You miss me?”

“Not as much as we missed your better half,” Frohike says with a leer. “To what do we owe the exquisite pleasure of your company, Agent Scully?”

Scully can’t help chuckling at the look of offense on her partner’s face, a welcome moment of levity before they get down to the business at hand. “We were hoping you guys could help us find some information through… unofficial channels.”

“Careful, Scully, you’ll give Melvin a stroke talking like that,” Mulder murmurs.

She rolls her eyes and pulls her notepad from her pocket, flipping to the page on which she wrote down everything they knew about the project and the people involved. She tears the paper out and walks over to hand it to Frohike, who takes it from her with a wink.

“Don’t you worry your pretty head. I’ll get you what you need.” He scans the list she’s given him. “Let’s see, what have we here?”

“Names, mostly,” Mulder says. “In particular, one C.G.B. Spender, better known to all of us as Cancerman.” 

Frohike’s eyes widen. “You found his real name?”

“An alias,” Scully says. “But one he used for many years, during which time he got married and had a son.”

“Wait, Spender?” Byers says. “Isn’t that also the name of--”

“I thought Spender was the little weasel who stole the X-Files from you.” Langly interrupts.

Mulder nods. “Turns out that little weasel is the actual son of the devil, yep.” His light tone does nothing to hide his disdain. “Though the even more pertinent matter is that ol’ C.G.B. likely also used this alias when he worked with my father at the State Department. I need you boys to do your thing and find out everything you can on a highly-classified project they worked on together.”

“Whoa, whoa, Mulder,” says Frohike. “Don’t you remember the last time I dug too deep into this guy’s history? I put a target on all our backs.”

“Relax, Frohike. We’re all still alive, aren’t we? Besides, you can focus your search on my father, on his work. The end result will be the same.”

“And,” Langly adds with a smirk, “I just updated our cloaking protocols. Now we’re officially more invisible than a rayfish in Stardock.”

Scully raises an eyebrow. “I’m not sure I follow.”

“For those in the room not fluent in nerd,” Mulder says wryly, “let’s just say it’s a good thing these guys are on our side.”

***

It goes without saying that they’ll return to his apartment together once they leave the Gunmen’s place. To say the boys’ research turned up some bombshells is something of an understatement, and there is a lot to process and sort through, for both of them. Mulder is convinced they are on the brink of an extraterrestrial Doomsday scenario, while Scully is not yet willing to buy into something quite so otherworldly. Biomedical experimentation makes more sense to her than alien apocalypse, as far as the project’s purpose is concerned, and it’s no less sinister. 

They only debate for a little while in the car, stopping before their combined tension can make things too heated. Bringing the discussion back around to the things they both agree on, they try to figure out what to do next. Their options are, of course, limited by the fact that their access to FBI resources has been cut off. As Scully parks the car at Mulder’s building, they’ve come to the conclusion that, as risky as it might be, they need to contact Skinner.

Scully starts a pot of coffee while Mulder goes to make the phone call.


End file.
